Having explored the wonders of Jordan, we decided that as we had a spare week before flying to India we would head to relaxing Dahab in Egypt for some beach time. Not only did the lovely Kay who we met in Petra come with us, but somehow we managed to arrange meeting up with our favourite neighbours and wonderful friends Saby and Marcus for a week. Okay so we weren't in the right hotel after all and there was a bit of a mix up, but meet up we did and what a blast!

Dahab is essentially a small beach town famous for its diving and snorkeling opportunities so this was very much about exploring sub-aqua Egypt rather than its more famous sights, but WOW! To be within touching distance of so many beautiful fish such as Lion Fish, Parrot Fish, Trumpet Fish and more was an incredible feeling and we were just snorkeling. Either walking in off the beach or taking a tailored route around the Blue Hole, we were all utterly amazed by the clarity and proximity of so much underwater life

. Utmost respect goes to Saby who overcame all of her fears and became converted to the joys of the sea.

In between numerous snorkel adventures, Tania taught Marcus how to play backgammon while Kay had to fight off an amorous dive instructor and we had such a lot of fun and laughs, thanks guys!

Saby and Marcus headed back to freezing England and then the marvellous Donna and Monica, travel friends from Beirut, Damascus and Jordan joined us for yet more snorkeling and great food all washed down with plenty of local brew. We then headed back to Jordan and left them at the beach before their immense adventure to Timbuktu. Good luck guys and have a great time!

Leaving Jordan we flew via Sharjah/United Arab Emirates where as we had a stopover we also took the chance to spend a few hours exploring Dubai and all their new glitzy buildings including the latest "tallest building in the world!" It is a strange mix of the ostentatious combined with all the Western chains you can imagine, all built by some one million Indian workers not to mention numerous other south Asians. So we joined the locals for dinner in one of the best south Indian cafes we have ever been to as somehow Pizza Hut just didn't appeal.....